Device for protecting door edges, and method and apparatus for forming same



Feb. 9, 1965 A. WILLIAM 6 DEVICE FOR PROTECTING DOOR ED AND METHOD AND gs SAME APPARATUS FOR F Filed June 9,

'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII United States Patent DEVICE FOR PRQTECTING DOOR EDGES, AND METHGD AND APPARATUS FGR FORMHJG SAME Ivan A. Williams, deceased, late of Portland, Oreg, by Esther M. Williams, execntrix, 4315 NE. 96th Ave, Portland, Greg.

Filed June 9, 1960, Ser. No. 35,ll89 1 Claim. (Cl. 113--51) This invention relates to a protective device for the edges of doors or other articles, and to a method and apparatus for forming the same.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved protective device of the type described wherein prong or wood piercing portions are extruded or drawn from the body of the device, and more particularly to provide such a protective device utilizing excess corner fold material as the source material for the extrusion formation of corner prongs.

A further objectis to provide a protective device for door edges which is formed from light-weight sheet mate- :rial but which by its construction is rigid and rugged to withstand hammering forces in mounting it on the door as well as to withstand other forces or shocks to which it may be subjected while on the door.

Still another object is to provide a protective device which is formed from a flat piece of material and in the formation of which no waste material results.

Other objects are to provide an improved method and apparatus for forming a protective device of the type described.

Briefly stated, the device of the present invention preferably has a rectangular body portion reinforced by a right angle peripheral flange or apron and having corner prongs which are extruded or drawn from excess material created from folding corners in the apron. Also comprising a part of the present invention is a method for forming the device as well as an apparatus in the from of a novel punch and die for forming the device.

The invention will be better understood and additional objects will become apparent with reference to the following specification and claim considered together with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of improved punch and die apparatus forming a part of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of such apparatus taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 are sectional views similar to FIG. 1 but showing different positions of the punch relative to the die in the formation of the door edge protective device;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the door edge protective device formed by the above apparatus; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the device, taken on the line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

Referring first to FIGS. 6 and 7, the protective or scuff device of the present invention, designated by the numeral 19, comprises a body portion 12, preferably rectangular in configuration, an apron or flange 14 around the body portion and extending at right angles thereto, and corner prongs 16. This device is particularly suitable for mounting on the bottom edges of wood doors or other articles to prevent contact and damage of such edges with the floor, the prongs 16 penetrating the door edge to hold the device in place.

Prongs 16 comprise corner extensions of the apron 14, and are formed by edges of the apron which lead into tapered prong-defining edges 18. These edges terminate in a point 20. The corners 22 of the device are preferably rounded.

3,158,884 Patented Feb. 9, 1965 ice As is apparent in FIG. 7 the prongs 16 have a reduced thickness dimension relative to the thickness of the apron which facilitates penetration of the prongs into the wood. Furthermore, to assist such penetration, the outer edge 20 of the prongs is tapered, with the outermost portion of the taper being disposed adjacent the outside plane of the prong.

Peripheral apron 14 provides rigidity to the device. Such rigidity facilitates attachment thereof to a wooden article by blows struck on the face of body 12 and also provides a rugged device capable of supporting a heavy load as Well as being substantially incapable of damage. The rounded corners 22 also contribute to the rigidity of the device.

As will now be described, the protective device 10 is formed by a novel method and apparatus. Referring first to FIGURES l and 2, the apparatus comprises a punch and die arrangement employing a vertically reciprocating member 26 carrying a shearing head 28 having a shearing edge 30 and a male punch or die member 32 having rounded corner edges 34. .As apparent in FIG. 1 shearing head 28 extends below the male punch 32 and thereby leads the latter upon downward movement of the two members with the member 26. Punch 32 is spaced a selected distance from the shearing edge 30 to form a groove 35 for a purpose to be described.

The female portion of the die comprises a round-cornered, rectangular open-bottom socket 33 having as one side edge a wall 40 provided with an upper shearing edge 42 which cooperates with shearing edge 3 of head 28 and adapted to sever a piece of material 44. Disposed at the opposite side of the socket from the wall 40 is a vertical extension or shoulder 46 cutback from the inner plane of the socket to form a stop for locating the mate rial 44 in a selected position over the socket 38.

With reference to FIG. 2, wherein the socket 38 is shown in dotted lines and the male die member 32 in full lines, it is seen that the socket assumes precisely the shape of the member 32 but is uniformly larger.

The material used comprises a bendable material, such as aluminum, and is fed forwardly by feed finger 48 having movement which is synchronized with punching operations of the press. The width of material 44 exceeds one dimension of the socket so as to extend beyond both sides of the socket. Furthermore, abutment 46 and the shearing path of travel of knife edge 30 are offset outwardly relative to the inner walls of the socket whereby the effective dimension of the material longitudinally of the strip exceeds the dimension of the socket in the other direction. Thus the peripheral apron 14 is formed as the punch moves through the socket.

The method of operation for forming the protective device will now be described in connection with the punch and die mechanism. With the piece of material 44 in abutment with stop 46 the head moves downwardly. Shearing edge 30, which leads the punch 32, first shears off the maerial, FIG. 3, and simultaneously the punch engages the cut-off strip, designated by the numeral 10a. Upon advancement of the punch into the socket the peripheral portion of the strip which exceeds the dimension of the socket is bent to form the apron 14, FIG. 4, illustrating the initial portion of this step.

FIG. 5 illustrates the final step wherein the product 10 is completely formed and in readiness to be'ejected by the subsequently formed devices. The feeding end of the material 44 is flexed downwardly by the head 28 is, in view of the rectangular configuration of the starting strip or blank 10a, it will be apparent that in bending an Also, in View of frictional forces developed between the corner portions of the'device and the walls of the female socket, the outside portion of the prong will be drawn up and thereby form the tapered edge 20.

The present invention thereby facilitates the formation of a protective device from a bendable piece of material, and even though the device is formed of a relatively light gauge metal it is by reason of its structure extremely rugged and durable. There is no loss of material and furthermore no cut-out portions. which can weaken the body portion. It will be apparent that the body portion 12 may assume, a shape other than rectangular, the only requirement being that adjacent edges of the blank 10a be arranged such that when a peripheral apron is bent thereon, excess material is formed at the corners.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herein shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted'to without departing from the spirit of the invention or-the scope of the subjoined claim.

Having thus described the invention,,what is claimed as new is:

The method of forming an edge protecting device from a rectangular blank of bendable material of uniform thickness, comprising forcing the blank through a die opening of uniformly less peripheral dimension than the periphery of the blank by means of a die member whose peripheral dimension is uniformly less than the peripheral dimension of the die openinglsubstantially by the thickness of the 7 blank, thereby bending a peripheral section of the blank toform a body portion and an integral apron'extending peripherally around the body portion perpendicularly from one side thereof, with the apron having the same thickness as the body portion, and continuing forcing the blank through the die opening sufliciently to cause extrusion of the excess material from the corner bends of the apron to form outwardly projecting prong members as "integral extensions of the apron at the corners thereof,

with each prong member diminishing in thickness outwardly from the apron and having outer edges which taper laterally outward and also converge substantially at a point.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 353,439 Butters Nov. 30, 1887 812,135 Johnston Feb. 6, 1906 1,494,028 Schulte May 13, 1924 1,534,578 Fielding Apr. 21, 1925 1,617,294 Raeburn Feb. 8, 1927 1,638,359 Noelting Aug. 9, 1927 1,704,416 Wenetsky Mar. 5,1929 1,827,972 Darnell Oct. 20, 1931 1,956,228 Gabriel July 3, 1934 2,415,940 Eckstein Feb. 18,1947 2,586,240 Malarkey Feb. 19 1952 2,710,027 Hussen et al June 7, 1955 2,750,910 Hammond June 19, 1956 2,858,603 Herrnrnann Nov. 4, 1958 2,884,886 Jonsson May 5, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 858,189 Germany cc. 4, 1952 a 883,735 Germany July 20, 19 53 82,317 Norway Aug. 31, 1953 

